Free access to Lost Cousins

Interestingly Peter Calver notes that for those seeking access to information concerning themselves in the 1939 National Register for England and Wales, there is no charge, unlike the normal situation of £42 per full household requests, where material is only released for those now deceased. To quote the civil servant who responded to Peter's request: "I can confirm that the NHS Information Centre does not currently charge for a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 1998". It will be interesting to see if Peter gains the whole household information, or just for himself.

The situation is different for Scotland and Northern Ireland when it comes to seeking information on whole households. Scottish applications are made on an individual basis, but I have no idea as yet what the situation might be for those wishing to make similar applications for their own registration entry (i.e. do they pay £13 or do they have the same rights under a Subject Access Request?). For Northern Ireland, entries are so far only being dealt with if you can send proof of death, but I suspect they too have yet to be tested for those entries from people still living, having only just started dealing with FOI requests.